About the film
SYNOPSIS The burly bearded male image has dominated the professional landscape and covers of National Geographic for far too long. Paleobotanist Dr. Ellen Currano finally decides to take a stand when she realizes her efforts and achievements continue to go unnoticed and unrewarded. Turns out, she is not alone.
The Bearded Lady Project: Challenging the Face of Science is both a short and feature length documentary film that demonstrates the competencies and passions of female identified paleontologists and how this unfair, gendered stereotype can be easily diminished with the donning of a beard. How, with some well-placed facial hair, any female scientist can be perceived as equally rugged, tough and determined.
With insights into the benefits of scientific careers for women, a glimpse at professional role models, and a positive dose of wit, The Bearded Lady Project is invested in changing the face of science, and encouraging a new generation of of women to focus on a career in this field of study.
The Bearded Lady Project is an award winning film that has screened at film festivals and PBS. In 2017 a scholarship was founded and proceeds from the film and portrait exhibition have provided two scholarships annually to the field research of female identified paleontologists.
awards
Book
During a discussion of how women are treated in traditionally male-dominated fields, paleobotanist Ellen Currano lamented to filmmaker Lexi Jamieson Marsh that, as the only young and female faculty member in her department, she was not taken seriously by her colleagues. If only she had the right amount of facial hair, she joked, maybe they would recognize her expertise. The next morning, she saw a message from Lexi saying: Let’s do this. Let’s get beards. That simple remark was the beginning of the Bearded Lady Project.
Challenging persistent gender biases in the sciences, the project puts the spotlight on underrepresented geoscientists in the field and in the lab. This book pairs portraits of the scientists after donning fake beards with personal essays in which they tell their stories. The beautiful photography by Kesley Vance and Draper White—shot with a vintage large-format camera and often in the field, in deserts, mountains, badlands, and mudflats—recalls the early days of paleontological expeditions more than a century ago. With just a simple prop, fake facial hair, the pictures dismantle the stereotype of the burly, bearded white man that has dominated ideas of field scientists for far too long. Using a healthy dose of humor, The Bearded Lady Project celebrates the achievements of the women who study the history of life on Earth, revealing the obstacles they’ve faced because of their gender as well as how they push back.
portraits
The images in this exhibition were taken on film with a large format camera, the symbolic camera of the nineteenth century. My goal in using this camera was to make portraits reminiscent of the historical photographs of male scientists so prevalent in our history books.
The portraits are a collaboration between subject and photographer. Where they stand and what they wear or have with them for tools is their choosing. The only alteration (but not required) is facial hair. The large format camera further encourages the collaboration: the subject can stay relaxed while I compose the image under the dark cloth. Once set, I can stay engaged with the subject by standing next to the camera rather than pulling it up to my face to take the picture. With one last duck under the dark cloth I ensure the subject is in focus and that their beard is on straight. I then load the film into the back of the camera and click the shutter.